What is it about?
Humans continuously adapt to ambient temperature, yet how they perceive temperature through their whole body is still unclear. This study investigated environmental temperature perception under extreme conditions using climate chambers. Participants compared dynamic temperature variations within either mild ranges (18 °C vs. 28 °C) or extreme ranges (8 °C vs. 38 °C). Results showed that thermal sensitivity significantly declined under extremes, yielding larger Just Noticeable Differences in cold (0.95 °C) and hot (0.80 °C) environments compared to cool (0.39 °C) and warm (0.45 °C) ones.
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Why is it important?
Understanding how we perceive ambient temperature, especially during a time of intense climate change, is a fundamental question to better understand what happens to our mind and body under extreme conditions. Here, we found that during these conditions we actually lose perceptual accuracy. This indicates that in extreme environments we might face a reallocation of resources that leads us to perceive differently, helping to explain the cognitive and behavioral limits of human adaptation.
Perspectives
I've always been fascinated by the symbiosis between our mind, body, and environment. Working on this topic with my amazing co-authors has been incredibly rewarding. More than anything, I hope this paper makes people think differently about how our daily environments shape our perception and well-being.
Laura Battistel
Eurac Research
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Human thermal sensitivity drifts at extreme temperatures., Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance, June 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001439.
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